The LOOK Show Diaries #1

With work out of the way for the day and my life on track for the next few weeks, I can finally get around to telling you about my not-so-secret good news: I made it to the top five of the LOOK Magazine blog competition. Just to go back a mere week (it feels so much longer), it was five o'clock when I'd really given up all hope of making it to the final. Just making it to the top twenty meant so much to me and to have my blog, and my caravan of all things, recognised by one of my favourite magazines was incredible. As much as I wanted to get to the next stage, I really wasn't holding out much hope of getting any further. I'd distracted myself all day with various things, including getting eyelash extensions, to avoid stalking the LOOK website and Twitter, so by the time it got to the evening I told my endlessly eager parents that I hadn't got through - until my phone started buzzing with Twitter alerts. When I checked my mentions I was so shocked to find so many lovely messages on making it to the final five. I couldn't believe I'd made it! 

To work in the fashion magazine industry is my dream, however unachievable it seems at times, so to have this opportunity to sit front row at LOOK's show means such a lot to me. The only downside is that I now have to worry about what I'm going to wear! A dress I'd daydreamed of wearing when I first entered the competition was featured in LOOK magazine last week as their 'wonder dress' of the week. Coincidence or a clear cut sign? But even if I've found the dress, which shoes do I wear? What bag? You know I'm going to need your help deciding. 

I just want to say a huge thank you to everyone who has always followed Dressing Miss Dolly, and to my new followers too. It makes me so happy to see people enjoying my blog as much as I enjoy writing it! Stay tuned for more LOOK Show posts and take a look at the other girls who made it to the final too: The Style Rawr, Temporary Secretary, The Fish Tank and Burn The Blonde. I can't wait to meet them as well as last season's winner, Amelia. 

P.S - Here's a peek of what I wore the other day. I'm not quite convinced by my outfit. It felt a little too Grandma-prim-and-proper for me. I'm not sure if it was the skirt length, or the black and grey palette with the skirt length. What do you think?

Topshop sweater, H&M jersey dress, Primark leopard shoes, Asos bag. 

The Look Show AW11: Why I Should Be 'F-row'

When I graduated, my life, unbelievably, seemed to slot fairly simply into place. I don't know who my Fairy Godmother was, but she seemed to have taken studious note of all my sartorially sweet dreams and swiftly made them a reality. From English graduate to fashion intern, to fashion assistant, to fashion editor - I could barely stretch my arms wide enough to catch the shower of clothes, shoes and handbags that were literally falling to my feet. In such an impossibly short space of time, I'd ticked off a large portion of my fashion dream list and been thrown into an exhilarating whirlwind of front rows and shopping sprees, which I could share with like-minded fashionistas via my blog. It wasn't until I slipped between my bedsheets at the end of a long and hectic day that the reality of my life finally hit me. 

BAM!

I woke up. In a caravan. To unemployment. Oh reality, you taste bitter on the way down! Yes readers, all of the above was nothing but the sweetest of dreams, although the thin thread of truth there was that I am, in fact, a recent English graduate, whose life only seemed to make some sense once I realised I could combine my passion for writing with my obsession for fashion. 

Despite looking like I should be parked up on the curb of a seafront selling Mini Milk's and Mr Whippy's, this is actually my humble abode since finishing uni. And while I may seem to be the definition of 'trailer trash', I can assure you that this little caravan dreamboat quite literally splits its seams with my wardrobe overspill and penchant for LOOK magazine.  

Practising my front row chair perch

So, just why should I be front row at this autumn's LOOK Show? Well, to work in fashion journalism quite literally is the dream for me, but I'm absolutely determined to make it my reality. Currently blogging from my caravan in an idyllic but dreary seaside town, even I have to admit that my dream couldn't possibly seem more out of reach, but to be given the opportunity to blog from the front row of the Look Show would make it all seem that much more hopeful. The abundance of fabulous prizes on offer are enough to make anyone enter, but I'd love to be chosen as one of the final bloggers because the experience of momentarily being a part of the elusive fashion mag industry, that I so desperately want to work in, would mean so much to me. Without meaning to be hideously cheesy, everyone is looking for someone to give them the chance to prove themselves, and I hope that the LOOK team thinks that this could be my one. 

Straighten You Out

Body - New Look
Palazzo pants - Primark

Models Own 'Nude Beige' and Models Own  black nail art pen

Hello second outfit post of the week. This is a first for Dressing Miss Dolly I'm (almost) sure. My Dad's new camera lens arrived today so I've spent the day taking photos of pretty much everything vaguely interesting in sight. As I'm currently living in a caravan (long story) you can probably imagine that the wardrobe is pretty damn insufficient for someone who buys clothes. All. The. Time. So, they're all rolled up as though I've tried to strategically pack a suitcase, which makes everything seriously wrinkled. I was in too much of a rush to iron these Primark palazzo pants, but I try to go by my old theory of 'your body heat will iron out the creases' - essentially the method of ironing from the Dark Ages.

Hope you've all had a lovely day. I spent mine enjoying the sunshine in the park with my nephew and nieces, which I'm glad I did as it's now pouring with rain! I'm going to try find a spot in the house where I can actually set up the camera properly to make outfit posts look half decent. Watch this space. 

Coming Soon to Dressing Miss Dolly

Dress - Topshop
Hat - Asos

I know there's a saying somewhere about one door closing and another one opening, but it's somewhat true in this instance. My trusted little camera has just died (zoom error anyone?), but I've just discovered my Dad's Nikon lying around the house collecting dust. At the moment it only has a lens on it which takes photos best when they're far off into the distance, but hopefully by the end of this week he'll have a new lens which will enable me to take outfit photos! I don't know why I feel so excited about the prospect of this. I guess it's just something that I've been debating for a little while now, and although I occasionally post photos of what I wear, they're very sporadic and usually of questionable quality! I really try and take a lot of care with what I post and my whole blog layout in general, so I hope this will be a positive new chapter for Dressing Miss Dolly. I'm also planning a giveaway to begin in the near future when I hit a certain follower mark to reward you guys for the lovely feedback you leave me. It really makes blogging so much more enjoyable to hear your thoughts and to be able to connect with your blogs too. I don't tend to reply to comments on here (I read them all though), but if there's something you'd like to know desperately then feel free to contact me on Twitter, because I'm alot more reliable on there. Also, I've got a poll going in my sidebar for you to share what you'd like to see more of on Dressing Miss Dolly. Feel free to add your thoughts!

Graduates, put your caps on

Topshop dress, New Look shoes

Obligatory throwing of the hats

Graduation means I can finally say goodbye to reading texts I'm not interested in, writing multiple academic essays on topics I'm less than enthusiastic about, and to the torturous late nights spent scouring the net for long lost references. However, the bitter to my sweet comes in the fact that I'm also saying goodbye to living in a city where I truly feel I can be myself, to friends who I love, and to being surrounded by some of the most inspirational people I've ever met, not to mention being introduced to the work of incredible talents I might not have found otherwise. Uni really is a once in a lifetime experience. I can't even begin to sum up the strange, yet totally compulsory experiences which seem to make up university years (although this page sums up my first year in a nutshell), and the things I've done, seen, and heard that I'll more than likely never do, see, or hear again. Just a couple of months ago, despite feeling sad about it all being over, I felt ready for things to change and to move on from student life into the elusive 'real world', which I've managed to avoid entering by being consistently in education. However, maybe it's because I haven't gone straight into the dream job (or even stepped onto the first rung of the ladder) like so many other recent graduates, or because I'm currently residing in a caravan on my parents' drive (if I could glamorise my life at the moment, trust me, I would), but all I really want to do right now is be back at university, in the familiar comfort of my minuscule flat, with nothing more than a looming essay deadline and the dull ache of a hangover to cloud my days.

June So Far

The last few weeks have been pretty eventful, yet I don't seem to have many photos as evidence! I'm such a poor photographer, and I really hate having my own photo taken, which means I don't have one single, full length photo of me in my Grad Ball dress or the outfit I wore to Paris - bad blogger! I didn't even get the clichéd shots of food etc, but I'll share with you the little lot I did get. I'm going to Glastonbury next week and I promise I'll try and do better then!

Post-makeup on the Eurostar

Laurie

Notre Dame

Me outside the Notre Dame - had to wear stupid grey sweater over my dress because it was absolutely freezing :(

Huge Louis Vuitton store in Paris

The view from the top of the Eiffel Tower - makes me feel faint just looking at it!

Mime in Covent Garden, who made both of these children cry! He was quite funny though....

This week I:

*Successfully navigated my way across Paris despite only ever pretending to be able to read a map

*Ate more fast food than should ever be allowed as well as copious amounts of Starbucks hot chocolate and Cafe Nero ice milkshakes

*Accidentally found myself wandering around Grazia's building in London...oops!

*Discovered French people really do say 'Oh la la!'

*Nearly fainted/vomited at the top of the Eiffel Tower

*Learnt how to use the tube, although not quite how to end up where I intended

*Failed to pull of Parisian chic while shivering under a feeble sweater on top of my dress, while accessorising with lips rapidly turning blue

*Took photos of some stunning sights around Paris

*Failed to remember what 75% of those sights were called....

*Paid a visit to Lily Allen's store, Lucy In Disguise, and was quite surprised to find everything was pretty affordable and nice. Some really quirky vintage pieces in there....

All in all I've had an amazing week! Will definitely be heading back to Paris again soon. Although it's quite chaotic (traffic wise), it definitely felt a lot more chilled out compared to London. People were a lot friendlier and happier to make conversation, whereas London always feels like everyone is too busy to smile. Also, I realised how much I will miss Manchester's Selfridges. Although London beats it hands down for size, products etc, the snob factor was incredibly rude/infuriating! 

I'm absolutely exhausted today from travelling (we had to check in for our train to Paris at 4am!), so I'm just going to crack on making my CV look fancy. I really need to put together a portfolio of my creative writing, but I'm not really sure how it should look. Anybody have any knowledge in that area, feel free to share!

It's a student's life

clearly a new hair trend in the making

I'm not crying in the first photo, I'm just shielding you from the horror that is me when I've just rolled out of bed. I just wanted to show you that I managed to get the Topshop sweater I was hunting down :) It's so comfortable and I just keep throwing it on with everything. Also, these are my nails that I painted last night. After revising all day, reading my magazines and painting my nails is a nice little treat. Check out my reading material this week:

House of Leaves. The page you're seeing has writing going upside down, backwards, sideways, things that should be read from the other end of the book, boxes of writing and reflections of the boxes of writing. This is the first book that feels like an effort to read, in the sense I feel I need to warm my brain up in preparation. Saying that, it is still quite good, just not what you'd call a light read. 

Monday Morning Dress

Throughout the pretty epic fail that was my birthday shopping trip, I did pick up a couple of dresses in Primark of all places. One was the summery, Prada-esque, beach print dress  and the other was this one. It's not at all like something I would usually pick up, but I envisioned the colour looking good with a summer tan and it being comfy, and flowy etc. When I tried it on I found, as it goes with Primark, that the fit was really off. The sizing seems right, but there's too much material in all the wrong places which makes it unflattering. With my hat, I feel quite Vivienne at the polo in Pretty Woman, but that gave me enjoyment for all of five seconds.

Dress: Primark, Belt: Zara

Speaking of that scene in Pretty Woman, this Topshop dress always reminds me of it. 

Verdict on my dress: it's going back.

 P.S - Dressing Miss Dolly now has a proper URL on Facebook. Come and visit!

www.facebook.com/dressingmissdolly

The Floppy Hat

Hat: ASOS. Ring: Topshop. Shirt: H&M

So I finally got the ASOS floppy hat I've been lusting after for months. My lovely friend Laurie bought it for my 21st and it's one of those things that can pretty much make any outfit infinitely more stylish. I've noticed, wearing it about London and Manchester, that when you wear a hat, you realise just how few people actually wear them. This consequently seems to encourage stares from  people as though you have an alien on your head, which I try to ignore while repeating 'my hat looks good and not like an alien' in my mind.

Do you get this kind of hat attention when you wear one? Stares or not, I intend to wear it near enough every day, gales permitting.

What I Wore: Valentines week

Topshop: coat, trousers. New Look: body. Primark: shoes, bag

Primark handbag, Models Own 'Scarlet Sparkle' nail polish, Earnest Jones silver ring, Topshop pink jewel ring

This isn't what I wore on Valentines day because I pretty much stayed in my pyjamas that day. I had a lovely time with the boyfriend, we just didn't venture out much apart from nipping to Tesco to buy a really nice dinner. 

I hardly ever wear these trousers because I don't have many shoes that go with them, but the leopard pumps make a good little pairing. I must have somehow lost a bit of calf muscle, odd as that sounds, because these tapered trouser legs aren't nearly as tight as they used to be. This time last year I was training for the London Marathon, and I acquired pretty muscular calves! It seems that's now all gone to waste! This outfit is really comfy, but looking at it in photos I think it needs....something. Maybe a necklace? I'm all for minimalism and simplicity, but there just seems to be space for something more. What do you think?

I braved Primark last week and was so glad I did because I found this little gem of a handbag. I love small, boxy bags partly because they look cute and make it easier to find things, but also because I like surprising people as I pull out umbrellas, books, wallets, keys, phones, cameras (it has been done!) from their deceptively small depths. I always want to go into Primark because I really like their s/s collection, but it's always so busy and messy, I just avoid it. However, the boy and I went on a Monday evening about 6ish and it was so quiet! Much less stressful shopping! If you haven't been in there recently, you really should. They have a great handbag selection going on at the moment.

And these are some of the yummy things we ate. I found a heart shaped frying pan in Tesco for £2! Amazing! So we had heart shaped fried eggs on Valentines morning. The boyfriend totally sabotaged my yolk! I had my favourite red velvet cupcake from Tesco too, and the most delicious lemon tiramisu. As you can tell, we are very healthy eaters.

Hope you all had a loved up Valentines. Did you do anything special or just gorge on treats like we did (because it's just as good if you're single, if not better!) ?